Food for body and mind

There are so many different diets and lifestyle choices that it’s easy to have a new culinary experience everyday if you wish.

When I was a poor university student I used to live with a vegetarian, who to this day I still consider one of my best friends. Since we were both living on a budget we used to take turns cooking for each other and while she loved my vegetables in cheese sauce, her Quorn sausages never really hit the spot for me.

For years I assumed that all vegetarian food, besides my famous cheese sauce obviously, was bland and chalky … oh how wrong I was!

I still eat meat, but these days my palate has changed thanks in no small part to Indian vegetarian cuisine, which is packed with mouth-watering flavour and spice.

Govinda’s restaurant, slotted adjacent to Al Jazeera in Juffair, is a 100 per cent vegetarian venue that proves there is more to a meal than just meat.

It caters to the connoisseurs of pure vegetarian food ‘in the mode of goodness’, a Sattvic diet. Also referred to as a yoga diet or sentient diet, it is based on foods that – according to Ayurveda and Yoga, lead to clarity of mind while also being beneficial to the body.

There is no meat, onion, garlic or caffeine on the menu, which admittedly came as a shock to me at first. I thought it would be a real challenge to create a tasty dish without using any of these ingredients … clearly I’d never eaten at Govinda’s before.

However, the team at the restaurant still have a lot of other ingredients to work with including cereal grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, unpasteurised and unhomogenised fresh milk and fresh milk derivatives, mostly ghee, but also butter, cream, cheese, yogurt and raw honey.

The Sattvic diet is argued to promote life, virtue, strength, health and happiness … something I have never gotten with a Big Mac, so why not try something new?

The venue, located on the first floor, is bright, colourful and spacious. The GulfWeekly team was met on arrival by friendly and courteous staff eager to seat us and take our order.

Since most of us were new to the Sattvic diet, we were given some of the most popular items on the menu.

I was a bit naïve and thought an onion and garlic-less meal was going to be bland but this place proved that you can make tasty dishes without them as well.

We started off with Hara Bhara kabab with green chilli and mint sauce and vegetable cutlets. The kabab is a tasty alternative for those who love kababs but are vegetarian, this dish gets its name and green colour from the healthy and delicious spinach in it.

The cutlets were so crisp and we all agreed that you could taste the freshness in these heart-shaped treats.

Next up was a selection of Dal Tadaka, Nargisi Kofta, Shaam Savera and Paneer Tikka Masala, served with a selection of Indian breads and Jeera rice.

What struck me most about my meal was that I didn’t miss any of the ‘forbidden’ ingredients. Every item on my plate was packed with flavour, which tasted even better because I knew it was good for both my body and mind.

However, the most amazing thing about this restaurant is that every item on the menu costs under BD2, which is fantastic value considering the respectable size of the portions, the sublime taste and vast selection of things to choose from.

I’ll have to call my old flat mate and let her know what she’s missing!

For details, call 17827127.